In Gomez v. Cabatic, the New York Appellate Division, Second Department, affirmed the imposition of punitive damages in a medical malpractice case based on the defendant’s destruction of documents in an effort to avoid liability. But it ordered a …

In a recent decision in In re Paulsboro Derailment Cases, the Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a case brought by plaintiffs who alleged that they had been exposed to airborne chemicals following a train derailment. This decision turned on …

Lately, we have had many occasions to criticize courts’ analysis of punitive damages issues, so it is nice for a change to be able to report on the Tenth Circuit’s insightful decision in Lompe v. Sunridge Partners. Readers may …

Cases in which an appellate court holds that a state’s standard for punitive liability was not satisfied even though there was sufficient evidence to support liability for the underlying causes of action are regrettably rare. But in Nissan Motor Co. …

West Virginia long has been at or near the top of the Chamber of Commerce’s and American Tort Reform Association’s lists of judicial hellholes. Last month, the State took a big step toward changing its image, enacting a series of …

Many states restrict punitive damages to situations in which the defendant either intended to injure the plaintiff or disregarded a substantial risk of injury. Regrettably, courts often misapply the latter basis for punitive damages in a way that undermines its …

We’ve been following the post-trial proceedings in Allen v. Takeda PharmaceuticalsNorth America, Inc., a product-liability action involving the diabetes drug Actos. The case garnered headlines earlier this year when the jury awarded an astounding $9 billion in punitive …